Q1216. How to process ancient Greek and Latin academic document translations?

Answered by the NYC Visa & Translation certified translation team

Ancient Greek and Latin document translations serve academic, ecclesiastical, and legal-historical needs — diplomas from old European universities, church records, historical legal instruments, and classical scholarship. The translator pool reality: qualified classical-language translators are scarce — the work is done by academic classicists and specialised scholars, and the timeline and pricing reflect the scarcity (weeks, and rates well above modern languages). The translation's particular demands: the documents are often handwritten in historical scripts (the paleography skill — reading the historical handwriting — is a separate expertise from the language itself), the abbreviations and conventions of historical documents require specialist knowledge (medieval Latin's abbreviation systems, the documents' formulaic structures), and the content's context (the legal or ecclesiastical system the document belongs to) shapes the translation's terminology. The certification question: for official use (an old diploma for a credential evaluation, a church record for a legal proceeding), the certification form follows the receiving body's rules — the MFA's certification of the translation where the Thai chain applies, or the foreign body's own requirements; the scarcity of certified classical-language translators means the certification arrangement is confirmed with the receiving body in advance. Points that matter: the document's condition (old documents are fragile — the handling and the imaging are part of the work); the translation includes the document's physical description (the seals, the script, the material) where the receiving body needs it; and for academic use, the translation's scholarly apparatus (the notes on the readings, the uncertain passages) is part of the work. Practice points: engage the specialist early (the lead time is long); provide the best possible images of the document; and confirm the receiving body's requirements before commissioning.